The truth, that few wanted to face at the General Election, can now be told. As a country we have been living beyond our means. A new Government is leading us into an age of austerity, with higher taxes and less money for public services.
What are we to make of all this? Rather than blaming others, most people will be asking deeper questions. They will be rethinking how they behave. They will be rethinking who they are. What can the Christian Church offer to those who are asking such questions?
The Bible and the Christian Faith offers a profound analysis of greed. It recognises it as something that can destroy any culture, including our own. A narrow minded obsession with our personal desires and ambitions can blind us to the truth about our relationships with others, and our relationship with God. The Christian church is a community that lives by repentance. It helps us to see and to confess our sins. It offers us a power to clarify and purify our thinking and our motives. It offers us through Jesus Christ the forgiveness of our sins, and the grace to rebuild our lives. It makes possible, with the help of the Holy Spirit, a new reverence for life, a new and humbler awareness of our true relationship with God and with others. It enables us to change the way we think and to change the way we live.
This change takes place quietly. But it is profound. Slowly we discover a new world within us and around us. This discovery is humbling but brings us a deep joy, because it is based upon truth. In this magazine you will read the stories of those who are making this discovery in the life of this church. Their words help us to discover the grace of God, in an age of austerity.
Yours sincerely,
Raymond
Draper.